‘Not human’: Jury told of Brittany Higgins’ alleged rape as police interview tape played in court
Jurors have heard Brittany Higgins describe the night she was allegedly raped by her colleague, with her first recorded police interview played to the court.
Jurors have heard Brittany Higgins describe in detail the night of the alleged assault at the centre of the Supreme Court trial for the man accused of raping her.
Bruce Lehrmann has pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual intercourse without consent in the office of former Defence Minister Linda Reynolds in the early hours of March 23, 2019.
As a video of Ms Higgins’ first recorded police interview was played in court this morning, the jury heard her describe feeling “completely out of it” and like she was going to “pass out” when she and Mr Lehrmann first entered Senator Reynold’s office at Parliament House.
In the police interview, Ms Higgins said her memory or the night out before arriving at Parliament House was “really patchy” and that she was “really drunk”.
The court heard that by the time the smaller group, which included Mr Lehrmann, decided to leave The Dock and head to 88pmh club where they had been drinking that night, Ms Higgins said she was heavily intoxicated.
She put her intoxication level at about 70 per cent and didn’t fully remember having the conversation about leaving the first venue.
“It is really patchy, I will admit that freely. I was really drunk,” the court heard her tell the police.
Ms Higgins recalled having more drinks once the group reached the new venue, including shots.
She told the police that when she tripped up the stairs attempting to leave the club was when it became clear to her she was heavily intoxicated.
“I was really intoxicated, to the point where it was weird,” she said.
“I felt like I was at the point of obliteration.”
Ms Higgins told the police it was the drunkest she had ever been in her life.
‘Felt trapped’: Brittany relives alleged rape
She told the police that she didn’t remember how she came to be on the couch in Senator Reynolds’ office, but did remember waking up during the alleged assault.
The court heard Ms Higgins say she had the sense it had been “going on a while”, with her reasoning being that Mr Lehrmann “seemed sweaty”.
She said the accused was not looking at her during the alleged assault, with the jury hearing her say that he did not react when Ms Higgins told him to stop.
“I was crying at that point. As soon as I came to I was crying,” she said in the police video.
Ms Higgins said her dress had been pushed up around her waist and she wasn’t wearing underwear.
She said she thought Mr Lerhmann had a shirt on during the alleged assault but “definitely didn’t have pants on”.
The court heard Ms Higgins saying the alleged intercourse felt “quite forceful” and that she felt trapped and “not human”.
“I didn’t feel like it was about me at all,” she said.
“I felt like he was almost finished and I was coming late to the party.”
During the section of video where Ms Higgins was describing the alleged assault in detail, Mr Lehrmann did not look up at the screen.
Higgins ‘on autopilot’ at work after alleged assault
The court heard Ms Higgins telling the police that she was on “autopilot” when she went to work on the Monday after the alleged assault.
She said she didn’t believe anyone would believe her and she was trying to “overcompensate” on Monday and was “broadly nice” to Mr Lehrmann when she interacted with him.
“He didn’t seem ashamed. He didn’t seem upset or anything. It didn’t feel like something he wanted to address,” the court heard Ms Higgins say in the police interview.
On the Tuesday both Ms Higgins and Mr Lerhmann were called into separate meetings with Fiona Brown, the then chief of staff for Senator Reynolds, the court heard.
Ms Higgins said Ms Brown was the first person she told about the alleged assault.
She said going into the meeting she felt it was disciplinary in nature, but when she disclosed the alleged assault then the “gears shifted and it became less about me and more political than the actual incident itself”.
The court heard Ms Higgins say she “had a bit of a breakdown” during the meeting and was sent home for the rest of the day.
The court heard via the police interview video that in the wake of the alleged assault, Ms Higgins blocked Mr Lehrmann off all social media platforms and that he never reached out to her via text.
The former Liberal staffer told police Mr Lehrmann was “liking and unliking” her boss, Senator Cash’s Facebook posts in the wake of the alleged incident, the court heard.
“It was my understanding it was done on the belief that I would get the notifications,” she said in the video.
Ms Higgins said Senator Cash knew about this behaviour.
During the police interview, the jury heard Ms Higgins listing the people that she had spoken to about the alleged assault, including Senator Reynolds and Michaelia Cash.
Ms Higgins said she also told a number of her colleagues and friends.
Ahead of her claims being made public through the media, the court heard Ms Higgins spoke to journalists Samantha Maiden and Lisa Wilkinson, as well as informing her close circle of friends and having her loved ones tell her extended family.
‘I was late’: ‘Stressed’ Higgins bought pregnancy test, court hears
Following the first recorded police interview, the jury was then played the second interview Ms Higgins conducted with police on May 26, 2021.
In the interview, Ms Higgins told police that she remembered buying a pregnancy test in the wake of the alleged assault when she was in Perth for work in the lead up to the Federal election.
She said the decision to buy the pregnancy test was part of her “retrospectively checking things” following the alleged assault, saying “I was late and I was stressed”.
The court heard that she did not take the morning after pill or go to a doctor for a physical examination following the alleged incident, but did eventually attend a doctor to be prescribed anxiety medication.
The court heard that police had identified an email that Mr Lehrmann had sent to Ms Higgins’ personal email address on the Sunday after the alleged assault.
In the recorded interview, the police officer revealed they could not see the content of the email and asked Ms Higgins if she knew what was in the email.
“I have no idea,” the jury heard her say, with Ms Higgins adding that she couldn’t recall the email.
Day one: Video that had Brittany Higgins in tears
Yesterday, Ms Higgins was seen wiping away tears after part of the interview was played before the court.
She appeared via video link from a remote room within the ACT Supreme Court, wearing a navy dress and being accompanied by her support person, ACT Victims of Crime Commissioner Heidi Yates.
Both the defence and prosecution detailed messages between Brittany Higgins and former colleagues referring to the night of the alleged assault, with the jury also hearing CCTV will be played as evidence during the trial.
In his opening remarks to the jury, Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold said text messages between Ms Higgins and her former colleague, former Liberal staffer Ben Dillaway, would be presented as evidence.
In the March 26, 2019 messages, Ms Higgins told Mr Dillaway she didn’t remember getting to Parliament House “at all” and that she only “vaguely” remembered being there, the jury heard.
Mr Dillaway asked if she “hooked up in there” to which Ms Higgins text back saying she was “barely lucid”.
“I don’t feel like it was consensual at all. If he thought it was OK why did he just leave me there like that,” the text message from Ms Higgins read, the jury heard.
The defence, Barrister Steven Whybrow, made his opening remarks to the jury following the Crown prosecution.
He told the jury that it was “necessary to provide some context in this case”, before quoting American writer Mark Twain.
“Mark Twain once said, never let the truth get in the way of a good story,” Mr Whybrow said.
The defence told the jury they would be played two recorded interviews between the police and Ms Higgins throughout the trial, saying they occurred against the backdrop of the allegations being aired in the media.
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He told the jury that the allegations made by Ms Higgins and the media attention it received had become an “unstoppable snowball” that “could not be stopped by something as mundane” as the facts in this case being “not true”.
“The trial by media was well and truly underway,” he told the court.
“ (Mr Lehrmann) is called the accused because today, in this courtroom, the rule of law finally had to be applied to these allegations and complaints made by Ms Higgins.”
Read related topics:Brittany Higgins & Bruce Lehrmann Trial